


Cinders and the babysitting debacle.

by BarPurple



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Baby sitting, F/M, Fluff, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-26
Updated: 2016-10-26
Packaged: 2018-08-27 04:22:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8387029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarPurple/pseuds/BarPurple
Summary: Why won't Ashley babysit for Belle and Rumple anymore?





	

Hope Gold was almost two years old before anyone in Storybrooke other than Henry could be persuaded to babysit. Rumple had softened a lot since the birth of his daughter, but it had taken the town a long time to believe that the Darkest of Dark Ones was more a fuzzy grey these days rather than the blackest soul they had ever encountered. 

Ashley had finally agreed to take care of Hope one night so Rumple and Belle could have a romantic meal at Tony’s. It had been going wonderfully, right up until dessert. Belle and Rumple had barely taken a bit of their shared chocolate cake when Belle’s cell began to ring. Her annoyed sigh turned into a frown of concern as she read the caller ID.

“It’s Ashley.”

She quickly answered the call; a shrill yapping sound from the other end could be heard around the restaurant. Rumple caught Tony’s eye and mouthed, “Check please.” while Belle tried to understand what was going on with their babysitter.

“Yes! I can hear you! Okay we’ll be there as fast as we can, Ashley!”

Belle thrust the cell back into her handbag and looked up at Rumple with worried eyes. He squeezed her hand.

“What’s happened, sweetheart? Is Hope alright?”

“As far as I can tell, but we need to get there fast.”

Rumple helped her to her feet and threw a fold of bills on the table. He wrapped his arm around her and smoked them to Ashley’s house. Tony shook his head sadly and picked up the money, he would drop the change by the pawnshop tomorrow. It really was a shame they hadn’t been able to enjoy their cake in peace, but Tony was getting used to the fact that many of his diners had to rush off before the end of their meal.

 

The door to Ashley’s house was standing open, Rumple and Belle rushed inside, but got no further than a few feet into the house. The floor was covered in puppies; hundreds of puppies of all colours, all yapping for attention. Rumple put his fingers to his lips and shushed them. Much to everyone’s relief the puppies fell silent. Ashley picked her way through the sea of fur and handed a crumb encrusted Hope to Belle.

“I can’t cope with this, I’m sorry, but she’s eaten all the cookies I baked and then this happened!”

Rumple tilted his head and hummed to himself. He looked across to the stairs where little Alexandra was sat with Sean, the man pulled his daughter closer into his side as Rumple’s gaze fell on her. As calmly and nicely as he could Rumple spoke to the little girl.

“Did you by any change make a deal with Hope? Something along the lines of cookies for puppies?”

Alexandra nervously glanced at her parents and then nodded at Rumple. 

“Why would you do that, Alex! You know better than to make deals with Dark…”

Belle’s stern look stopped Ashley finishing that sentence. Instead she took a fast breath and said to Rumple; “You can fix this can’t you?”

“I can’t just undo a deal, dearie. Hope has already eaten her half of the bargain.”

Rumple was very tempted to leave Cinders in this mess for the attitude she had shown his daughter, but Belle’s gentle hand on his arm reminded him that he was treading a different path these days. He gave a deep sigh.

“I can amend the deal so you only have one puppy.”

“Our landlord doesn’t allow pets.”

Rumple ground his teeth together at Sean’s snide comment; he knew very well what their lease allowed, he’d written the damn thing.

“One puppy and an updated lease to allow for it. Happy?”

Ashley and Sean nodded, Rumple waved his hand and the mass of puppies disappeared leaving just one sat at the bottom of the stairs. He gave the family a curt nod and smoked his own family away to the parking lot outside Tony’s where he had left the caddy earlier that evening.

“We didn’t pay for the babysitting Rumple.”

Belle heard Rumple muttering under his breath as she fastened Hope into her car seat, she didn’t catch all of it, but it was clear that Ashley would not be receiving payment for her partial night’s babysitting. Rumple turned in the seat and gave Hope a serious look.

“We are going to have to talk about your deal making skills, little one.”

“Yummy cookies, Daddy.”

“Even yummy cookies are only worth one puppy,” Rumple didn’t need to look at Belle to know the expression she was wearing, he hurriedly cleared his throat and continued, “not that you should be making deals at all at your age.”

Belle rolled her eyes fondly and gave a little sigh.

“I guess we’re back to only Henry babysitting.”


End file.
